Sherr Rushes For 325 Yards And Three Scores As Part Of Record Setting Afternoon For Football In 49-27 Non-Conference Victory Over MIT
MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME FOOTBALL
Saturday, September 13, 2009
Clean Harbors Stadium, Buzzards Bay, Mass.
FINAL: MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 49, MIT 27
1 2 3 4 Total
MIT (0-1) 0 14 6 7 - 28
Massachusetts Maritime (1-1) 7 28 7 7 - 49
SCORING SUMMARY
MMA: Nathan Sherr 1 yd run (Jake Bickley kick) 5:53 1st
MIT: Kyle Johnson 22 yd run (Peter Gilliland kick) 14:21 2nd
MMA: Sherr 3 yd run (Bickley kick) 11:41 2nd
MIT: DeRon Brown 50 yd pass from Johnson (Gilliland kick) 9:16 2nd
MMA: Matt White 20 yd run (Bickley kick) 7:05 2nd
MMA: Sherr 95 yd run (Bickley kick) 3:48 2nd
MMA: White 9 yd run (Bickley kick) 1:24 2nd
MIT: Stephen Yablonski 3 yd run (kick failed) 12:23 3rd
MMA: Joseph St. Pierre 7 yd pass from Matthew Spinazzola (Bickley kick) 4:48 3rd
MMA: Douglas Dyke 4 yd run (Bickley kick) 14:26 4th
MIT: Cameron Brown 3 yd run (Gilliland kick) 3:12 4th
Attendance: 713
BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. -- Sophomore running back Nathan Sherr (Lynnfield, Mass.) rushed for a school-record 325 yards on 26 carries and scored three touchdowns to lift Massachusetts Maritime to a 49-27 non-conference college football victory over MIT Sunday afternoon at Clean Harbors Stadium.
Sherr's effort was part of a school-record 545 rushing yards on the day for the host Buccaneers (1-1), who also posted the second highest single-game point total in school history. Sherr got Massachusetts Maritime on the board first with 5:53 to play in the opening quarter on a one-yard plunge, but the visiting Engineers (0-1) evened matters in their season opener in the first 39 seconds of the second stanza when sophomore quarterback Kyle Johnson (Fairview, N.C.) scored from 22 yards out to tie the game at 7-7. Johnson's scamper was the beginning of a combined 42-point quarter between the two teams, as Sherr gave the Buccaneers the lead back on the ensuing possession with a three-yard run before Johnson hooked up with senior DeRon Brown (Galax, Va.) on a 50-yard touchdown pass off a screen to even the score again at 14-14 with 9:16 remaining before intermission.
Sophomore Matt White (Westwood, Mass.) gave the hosts the lead for good on a 20-yard touchdown run on the next Massachusetts Maritime possession for a 21-14 edge, and following an MIT punt, Sherr ripped off a 95-yard touchdown run (the second longest in Buccaneer history) to extend that margin to 28-14. After an Engineer fumble on the first play on the ensuing drive, White plunged in from nine yards out for his second score of the quarter to give Massachusetts Maritime a 35-14 edge at the break.
Junior Stephen Yablonski's (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) three-yard run capped an eight play, 80-yard drive to open the second half as MIT sliced its deficit to 35-20, but the Buccaneers answered two possessions later when freshman quarterback Matthew Spinazzola (Melbourne, Fla.) connected with senior Joseph St. Pierre (Beverly, Mass.) on a seven-yard scoring strike off a fake field goal. Junior Douglas Dyke (Plainville, Mass.) closed out the Massachusetts Maritime scoring on a four-yard run early in the final stanza, and junior Cameron Brown (Wheat Ridge, Colo.) provided the final Engineer touchdown of the day on a three-yard scamper with 3:12 remaining.
White also went over the century mark in rushing with a career-high 111 yards to go with his two touchdowns for Massachusetts Maritime, while Brown rushed for 148 yards on 30 carries as part of MIT's 293 yards on the ground for the afternoon. The Buccaneers outgained the Engineers by a 572-409 margin in total offense for the afternoon, as the hosts amassed 26 rushing first downs (29 total) and gained 8.8 yards per play on just 65 attempts.
Senior Ryan Howley (New Fairfield, Conn.) paced Massachusetts Maritime defensively with 11 total tackles (eight solo), while sophomore Mike Bois (Lakeville, Mass.) amassed a career-best 10 total stops, including eight solo. Freshman Michael Farnsworth (Mystic, Conn.) registered 1 ½ sacks for the Buccaneers, who recorded nine tackles for losses of 32 yards on the day, while junior Andy Hirko (Uxbridge, Mass.) added eight solo stops as well for the hosts.
Sophomores Peter Gilliland (Grand Ledge, Mich.) and Kristopher Weaver (Sheldon, Iowa) paced MIT defensively with nine total tackles each, including eight solo stops, while junior Brian Doyle (Hopkinton, Mass.) added six solo tackles and seven total stops for the Engineers on the afternoon.
Massachusetts Maritime travels to Beverly, Mass. next Saturday afternoon for a non-conference outing with Endicott that begins at Noon, while MIT hosts Framingham State in a non-league match-up on Saturday afternoon at Steinbrenner Stadium in Cambridge, Mass. beginning at 1:00 p.m.
BUCS BLOG: Today's game was originally to have been played on Saturday evening but was postponed by a lightning storm in the region...Sherr surpassed the previous single game mark of 315 yards set by David Burrill against Maine Maritime on September 15, 2001...The Bucs shattered the previous single-game team rushing mark by 170 yards, as the old mark of 375 came on November 2, 1981 in the Cranberry Bowl against Bridgewater State...Junior kicker Jake Bickley (Wilbraham, Mass.) set a school record by converting all seven of his point-after attempts to break the old mark of six shared by four Bucs...The 29 first downs also broke the old mark of 27 set against Maine Maritime on September 28, 1991...Massachusetts Maritime's 49 points fell one shy of tying the school single-game record of 50 points set in 1995 in a 50-7 win over Fitchburg State.